Respect

Respect is the collective responsibility of everyone involved in football to create a fair, safe and enjoyable environment in which the game can take place. Wiltshire County Football Association are dedicated in supporting players, referees, clubs, leagues and volunteers in this mission at our local grassroots level.

What do we want to achieve with Respect?

There will be a base of registered referees in England sufficient for the demands of the game at every level.

There will be zero tolerance for assaults on referees.

There will be an improvement in on-field player discipline, particularly in the area of dissent to referees and in competitions that have an established record of poor discipline.

There will be a ‘step change’ in youth football on what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour from parents, spectators and coaches.

We will work with coaches to create an enjoyable learning environment for children’s football.

How will we achieve Respect?

The FA has highlighted that poor behaviour in football can be addressed in a 4 step process which is:

Codes of conduct

Manage the match day environment

The captain takes responsibility

The referee manages the game

At present Wiltshire County FA have 86% coverage of County Leagues signed up to the Respect Programme with 96 Charter Standard Clubs encompassing over 600 teams who also endorse the programme with all of these encouraged to have dedicated Respect Co-ordinator.

Wiltshire County FA strives to supply our leagues, clubs, coaches, referees, volunteers and spectators with as many resources as possible to understand, promote and implement Respect across the game.

League, Club & Player Toolkits and Guides

Respect Equipment Scheme

This Football Foundation scheme offers your club, school or league the opportunity to purchase Respect equipment which, if used effectively, will help us to promote the beautiful game. The scheme offers 50 % off the normal cost price of the equipment which includes: Touchline barriers, Pro barriers, ‘Our club/league supports Respect’ banners, High-viz pitch marshals vests, Captain’s armbands, Parent and carer’s DVD, Player cards, Sleeve badges, Respect boards and Bundles.

Stages 2 & 3 may be appealed in writing. Clubs are able to enter a plea in mitigation and to present extenuating circumstances that a commission in a non-personal hearing may wish to consider

Poor Discipline Record Sanctions

A procedure has been put in place to deal with clubs with a poor discipline record, taking into consideration all offences and not just those imposed under the Respect sanction process.

Clubs with a poor discipline record will be charged under FA Rule E20 – failure to control players and/or officials and/or spectators.

The measure of a number of offences will continue to be gauged by a point process with a difference level of points to be allocated dependent on the seriousness of the offence:

Cautions

1 point each offences, with the exception of Dissent (C2) which will attract 2 points

S1 – Serious Foul Play

S2 – Violent Conduct

S3 – Spits at an opponent

S4 & S5 – Denies an obvious goal scoring opportunity

S6 – Abusive, insulting or offensive language

S7 – Commits a second cautionable offence

5 points

6 points

7 points

3 points

4 points

3 points

Misconduct charges

5 points each unless these are increased by the Discipline Commission.

Charging Threshold

An E20 misconduct charge will be raised against a club in any of the following circumstances:

Any team’s points tally reaches 75 points

Any team within a club reaches Stage 4

A club has been charged and the cases proven where two games have been abandoned as a result of misconduct (irrespective of how many teams within the club, but this could be considered as a mitigating factor when considering sanction)

A club has four or more incidents across all its teams of violent conduct (including all S2 charges and any other charge of assault on a match official or physical assault on a match official & participant on participant assault) – this is irrespective of how many teams there are within the club, but this could be considered as a mitigating factor when consideration sanction.

A club has 2 or more E3(2) charges raised against any played in a 12 month period

A charge under any of these conditions will be raised at any stage during the season. The sanction for any charge will be at the discretion of a County Disciplinary Commission and would be subject to appeal to the Football Association.

If you require any further information regarding Respect or wish to discuss further please contact our Respect lead Adam Greaney on 01793 486047 or adam.greaney@wiltshirefa.com